I’ve been planning to start this blog for quite a few years! Not really sure why I waited so long.. Maybe I thought it was cliched and that there must already be so many blogs on India… It’s probably one of the most talked about places, at least as far as traveling goes. But the difference is I’m not traveling, I’m not backpacking, I have chosen to live and work here, in this city that some people call Mumbai and some Bombay. Or perhaps it chose me, I’m not sure. Because it certainly wasn’t in my 5-year plan when I entered into my twenties, wait I don’t think I ever made a 5 year plan! It was another thing I thought of but never actually did! Because you never know where life is going to take you. You can set the sail, but the wind is not something you can control. I came to India after completing my Yoga Teacher Training course – there we go another cliche! Another foreigner (or ‘firang’ as we called over here) to head over to India to find him or her self. Now I’m not debating that coming to India can and often is a life-changing thing, it certainly was in my case, but I just don’t subscribe to the idea that one can ‘find oneself’ in another country! BUT it will open you eyes, change your perspective, challenge you in many ways. It’s character building shall we say. And I think it’s a place you either love or hate. For me it was love, I knew that within the first 2 days. It happened in Amritsar, whilst sitting in a bicycle rickshaw and taking in the colours and the chaos and general vibrancy of the place, followed, of course, by the tranquility and magnificence of the Golden Temple. It was like another world for me, completely opposite to London – the structure and the order. I felt free. I headed further north to Dharamsala, which was lovely and so peaceful. Then I did the tourist trail for a few days – Taj Mahal and Rajasthan. My initial plan had been to head home after a 2 week holiday, but I ended up staying for 5 years! Literally. No joke. And after a 2 year break in UK (I thought I was done with India, ‘ready to move on’ and all that) I’m back! It seems India wasn’t done with me! Anyway that’s enough for now.. More to come!